Duffy the Mascot

Fétiche Mascotte (Duffy the Mascot, aka The Mascot, aka Puppet Love, aka The Devil's Ball) (1934), a strange story about a loving dog puppet who practically goes through Hell to get an orange to a dying girl. Director Ladislas Starevich (1882-1965) was a Polish, Russian and French stop-motion animator who used insects and animals as his protagonists.

Reviews

Ladislas Starevich was a genius. Just this one film made in early 1930's is enough to immortalize him. Most do not realize how time consuming, creative and demanding stop motion animation is. It was and is(the few that still create it)much more difficult and creative overall, than computer animation.